Pearl Jam opted to stretch out their songs—literally—on their forthcoming album, Lightning Bolt. Speaking to Rolling Stone, producer Brendan O’Brien described the new material as “longer, more devoted.” “On Backspacer [Pearl Jam’s previous album], the songs were … all ‘get in, get out fast’,” explained O’Brien. “This record has a few songs that have a bit more of a … they kind of … what's the word I'm looking for here? They're longer. [Laughs] I don't know if the word ‘depth’ is right, but some of the songs kind of take you down a road for a while.”

O’Brien went on to say Eddie Vedder is “remarkably the same” as he was when O’Brien first met the Pearl Jam singer 20 years ago. “When it comes to writing songs and his intensity towards his work … he stills pulls out the same typewriter from the same little brown suitcase he's been using for 20 years,” said the veteran producer. “It's remarkable how much he approaches it the same. I know he's a different guy since he's a family man now, a father, but all that looks the same to me.”